Self-Evident Truth: Unequal American History in Schools

Various Authors

Note: The following statement was authored by American History teachers from throughout the United States to provide an honest assessment on the status of history education in the nation. This document has been influenced by our collective diversity, both in our backgrounds and our experiences in teaching history to our students. Moreover, it is that very spirit of embracing diverse stories and experiences that will make us better teachers of the story that is America. A complete list of contributing authors is available at the conclusion of the statement.

“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” — Representative John Lewis

As teachers of American History from across the nation, we know that history education should be grounded in interpretation and analysis based on fact, not opinions based on whim, bias, and unfounded theory. We want to be a catalyst for truthful dialogue, both spoken and written, in lieu of snickers, sneers, and whispered side comments. We value thoughtful self-reflection and pause instead of boastful proclamations of mastery. We recognize that the United States of America has a problem that is not limited to Monument Avenue in Richmond, nor Jackson Square in New Orleans, and not even limited to school names throughout America. This problem extends into K-12 classrooms in rural, suburban, and urban communities in every state in our nation.

As such, we wish to open a dialogue about the current status of history education in America, potential roadblocks of change, and pathways to improve the teaching and learning of our diverse national story.

This is not a school district issue. This is not even a regional issue. This is a national education issue, and it is time that we address it instead of endlessly tapping our hypothetical snooze button to stay nestled in our comfortable, familiar, yet stagnant sleepwalk that is history education in America.

Valuing and funding high-quality, diverse, and honest history education is a required pathway to working towards solutions to a problem that comprises the deepest fibers of our nation’s genetic code: racism and how racial history is taught in all of our schools.

This is an educational crisis and, paired with a once-in-a-century pandemic, has allowed for moments of pause, self-analysis, and rededication to our mission as history teachers. This is about teaching facts, not hate. This is about acknowledging our nation’s faults alongside her greatness in a way that is not mutually exclusive. In fact, our classrooms serve as a microcosm of this dichotomy. As teachers, we often like to proclaim “that’s my student” with such pride when we hear about a current or former student achieving or being a contributing citizen. But we also need to own it when it goes the other way, when we have current or former students who make choices to not be respectful of the cultures, heritage, and lives of others.

America has faced crises many times. Students often learn about the valor of those charging the beaches of Normandy and the heroic actions of soldiers at home, whether it is Gettysburg or Bunker Hill. They should. We boast with American pride at the development of the polio vaccine, the uplifting nature of the Berlin Airlift, or the spirit of togetherness after September 11th. But why are other stories told sparingly, reduced to an addendum in our storied nation? Why are James Reese Europe’s contributions not alongside those of the American doughboys? Why are the narratives of Japanese-Americans who sacrificed their lives in combat during World War II, despite being previously imprisoned at incarceration camps, not in the next paragraph after the stories of the Battle of the Bulge? Why is the Birmingham Children’s Crusade not as widely celebrated as a group of college boys who brought renewed pride to the nation one night in 1980 in Lake Placid, New York?

Reducing our nation’s history down to only include certain narratives is a systemic problem. That is a problem that correlates with a lack of vulnerability in our education system. That is a problem that relates to centuries of a structure based on dominance. But being vulnerable as a community of history teachers in admitting that there are issues, some of which we have helped to create, is the immediate investment that is necessary for change. None of us will do this perfectly, but it is time to move forward together to take down some of the systemic roadblocks often cited as barriers to advancement.

What systemic barriers exist then?

Standards and Curriculum

This is an easy scapegoat. Every class at every level is tied to some standard or curriculum that was provided to us by our state, perhaps our district, a local university, or even the College Board. Many of these standards are vague; some have not been updated in decades, some have undertones of political bias, and some are based on survey data of a local community.

As a new teacher, standards and a curriculum framework may serve as a foundation for your class, a security blanket of sorts, that you can continually cite as justification for your instructional delivery and assessment. But what’s missing? Humanity, empathy, and, quite often, diverse voices and difficult topics. In Idaho, the only reference to BIPOC includes the Civil War and Supreme Court cases. In Pennsylvania’s United States History standards, the terms “Jim Crow,” “reconstruction,” and “segregation” appear exactly once. In Ohio, slavery is listed among the possible causes of the Civil War, alongside federalism and economics, although there is no mention of eugenics, lynching, or mass incarceration following the conflict. In Alabama, current critical standards were released for possible K-12 blended learning, but fifth grade social studies standards related to BIPOC had been deemed non-critical but are now under review.

We, as history teachers, need to be the voice for all of our students of all colors to change these standards. We can see the stories left out of the narrative. What would happen in America’s history classrooms if students were more often engaged by the stories of people who looked like them? We are the adults in the room. This is our work to do. Treating the stories of marginalized groups as addendums to American History or removing them only furthers an unwritten narrative that currently exists in schools.

Textbooks

Open a textbook and look at all of the contributing authors, editors, and organizations involved. Now look where textbooks are published. Most likely, it is going to open your eyes to the lack of diversity in the writing of those books. The books that drag on and on about “how tall” a person was, or a vivid description of somebody’s stunning clothing, or the ones that spread myths as fact. It is also fascinating that different states, even those next to each other, can have different versions of American History in their textbooks. But as professional history educators and historians, it is well past time to move on from the traditional textbook both in practice and in teacher preparation. Results of a June 2020 survey conducted by the EdWeek Research Center were released, indicating approximately 70 percent of educators surveyed responded that their textbooks reflected the experiences of people of color “a lot” (22 percent) or to “some” extent (49 percent). This statistic is terrifying and can be attributed to a possible lack of teacher training in history education.¹ Are all teacher preparation programs providing pre-service teachers, elementary and secondary, with the skills and knowledge to move beyond a textbook? We must train our teachers to utilize primary sources.

Why read an editor’s view of the 4th of July when you can read John Adams’ letters or Frederick Douglass’ speeches on it? Which one offers true insight — a textbook marketed to districts or the passion, emotion, and truth that can be found in an original work? Highly-recognized, highly-effective award winning teachers have been doing this for years. We must move towards an unfiltered lens of history offered by primary sources. Whether they are the words of Ida B. Wells or Abraham Lincoln, the actions of Stokely Carmichael or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the opinions of Justices Sonia Sotomayor or Thurgood Marshall, the speeches of Harvey Milk or Shirley Chisholm, the activism of Yuri Kochiyama or LaDonna Allard, the sacrifices of Roberto Clemente or Stanley Hayami, or the depictions by Bill Mauldin or Oliver Harrington, they offer unbridled access to the best story our nation has to offer: a diverse history.

And if you do not recognize all of these names, that is testimony of the problem.

Time

In a way, this maybe relates to curriculum or standardized testing, but time is any teacher’s most valuable resource in the classroom. With any change, the comment of “I don’t have time for this” is a common retort. Some teachers attempt to “cover” a topic by unintentionally delivering an unwise and perhaps traumatizing simulation, despite positive intentions. Some teachers may say they only have time to spend a few days highlighting Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King Jr. during Black History Month or that the only celebration of Asians is a cursory mention during Chinese New Year. What message is this sending, not just to students of color but to all students?

In many states, the American Revolution is taught in late elementary school, middle school, and again in various high school courses. And, in those same states, Civil War battles and generals are memorized and nuanced stories are told multiple times. We all even have that topic or unit that “we” love and think “the students love it” so we spend a great deal of time on it; more than we should. We simply run out of time after the Civil War, giving an implied message that racial enslavement and racism ends in 1865 and then does not resurface until the 1960s. Think about that. Moreover, Native American history is so often lost in an American History course. Many begin with Jamestown and close it off in 1890 with Wounded Knee. Reconstruction, segregation, Jim Crow, racial intimidation, forced relocations, ignored Supreme Court rulings, and anti-immigration movements are taught as footnotes, sidebars, and truly, “if we have time” for those lessons. We need to ask, whose time is more valuable? We have only so many hours with impressionable young minds every year; each moment must be carefully constructed to help them see the dignity in diverse human stories. Bringing anti-racist teaching into your classroom isn’t something else to add to your plate. It is the plate. The US Census Bureau projected in January that by mid-2020 the majority of America’s 74 million children will be nonwhite. We all need to learn about diverse viewpoints, and the children we teach deserve to see themselves reflected in America’s story.

They’re Just Too Young

Why do many parents filter the types of movies and television that their children can see? Violence? Language? Explicit content? Sure, we want to maintain the innocence of our children as long as possible. In elementary schools, then, we may have coloring pages of “5 fun facts” about James Madison on Constitution Day; or in middle school, we can analyze the bravery present in John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence painting, leaving out some glaring facts in each because, “they are just too young to have that discussion.”

Transforming historic people into one dimensional mythological heroes who make all the right choices strips students of one of the most engaging aspects of history: internal and external conflict. But is that really about the students? Or, is that because we, as teachers, perhaps do not like that vulnerable and uncomfortable feeling of embracing the tough conversations? We think it is the latter. Maybe this is because we never learned how to have difficult conversations when they are based on race. When we evade the truth by omission, students are filling in their own gaps, their own perceptions, and their own understandings. If we know something but do not invite our students into the conversation about it, are we not in a way lying to our students? Simply, our students are learning by not learning, making it even more difficult to reverse course in the future.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in History Education

Of our nation’s approximately 3.7 million teachers, 80 percent of teachers are white, despite having a collective national student population of white students that is just below 49 percent.² This point raises the statistical likelihood of students never being taught history by a BIPOC. This is certainly a problem in education in general, but it is augmented in history education. While some statistical studies display that this trend is improving in some areas, such as a 2016 report from the Department of Education ,there remains a wide diversity gap between students who attend public schools and those who teach and lead in them.³ And what about the power of a student learning in a history class from a role model who does not look like him or her? Schools concerned about meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse student population could now be looking for teachers with demonstrated experience in working with multi-racial populations who have courses on their transcripts like Psychology of Racism, Race, Class, Culture, and Gender in the Classroom, or Foundations of Multicultural Education. Criteria like these are important for all candidates. While many of these courses may not have been offered for many veteran teachers, there are certainly diversity-minded and anti-racist minded teachers throughout America that have looked to develop themselves personally and professionally to serve all students.

Students learning history rooted in outdated standards from predominantly white teachers is creating a perpetual cycle. A cycle based on an inherited privilege that passively or aggressively replicates the system of dominance upon which our nation was founded. A system that is often portrayed as students needing fixing, rather than an education funding system that needs fixing. It is not as simple as hiring more history teachers of color. That will not change the power dynamics at play. It is hiring, valuing, and listening to the truths that teachers of color bring from a standpoint of policy and practice to make sure that an inclusive version of history rooted in fact is offered to all students. This must include a willingness to reimagine our current historical framework to become multicultural at its core.

Community Noise

When we trained to be teachers, we were taught to embrace the values of our community into our lessons. It is even listed as a line item in teacher evaluations in many of our states. But what do we do when we are teaching history and we begin to have pushback from our community, whether an email or comment from a parent or board member? What do we do when an administrator knocks on our classroom door to ask us more details about that “one lesson” that made someone uncomfortable? This could impel an inexperienced teacher especially to avoid teaching hard history and open themselves to difficult conversations. After all, we are human and we have to think about the realities of losing a job or drawing the ire of a supervisor. We see the parent tweets and Facebook posts. But rather than retreating, go towards that fear and open that dialogue, citing the work of leading scholars in the field. Go to the documents. Encourage parents to stand up for teachers who they know are doing this hard work.

Students are demanding this change, even if adults are not, and we have an obligation to them. Do your students see you taking risks, teaching hard history, and representing their voices? Students should see themselves in what you teach. When students see themselves, they feel heard and empowered; their parents will also be energized by what you are teaching. We are not telling any student what to think, but we are providing them with the analysis skills that transcend a topic, unit, or course. The documents from diverse backgrounds, eras, and personalities, defend themselves. “I am not saying this, but [Jefferson is, Lincoln is, Douglass is, Adams is, Brown is, Malcolm X is, etc.]” So, yes, embrace that community input, but do not be fearful of being just as much of that community conversation yourself.

As we have closed out the first half of 2020, nobody can deny that it has been a year to remember, a year that will be documented as a significant one in future history classrooms. And, we have yearned to be in the classroom with our students during this time. But it also provides us with the time to consider this. Would we have handled the teaching and dialogue of the nation-wide awareness and protests the right way? Would we have simply “covered it” with a quick discussion and moved along on our usual sequence of our courses, or saw this as the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue with our students? We may never know the answer to that question, but we can answer another question moving forward. What actions will we take to remove the barriers that exist to teaching an inclusive and truthful history of our nation that is rooted in dialogue, empathy, and understanding?

To make these improvements, we will not have an easy road ahead. We will be open to honest reflection. We will speak out to revise standards and curriculum. We will advocate for funding to better train teachers to teach difficult topics. We will prioritize marginalized voices. And, we will be there to help each other pursue this important work. Whether we are novice teachers entering our first classroom, experienced teachers with a few years under our belts, or award-winning veterans, we need to be vulnerable in those conversations. When we hold back our thoughts in an effort to be agreeable or to suppress our own fears about whether or not we have done the right things in the classroom, we are doing a disservice to the effort that we know is a requirement in the future of history education in America.

We can and do love this country without loving all parts of its past. The time to do this is now. Our students are asking us to do better, to get this right. We must respond.

Respectfully,

CherylAnne Amendola, New Jersey
2017 New Jersey History Teacher of the Year

Lindsey Charron, California
2020 CCSS Outstanding MS Social Studies Teacher of the Year

Kevin M. Cline, Indiana
2016 National History Teacher of the Year

Jotwan Daniels, Colorado
Summit High School Humanities Teacher

Krystal Davis, Illinois
Social Science Teacher, Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School

Larry Dorenkamp, Pennsylvania
2019 Pennsylvania James Madison Fellow

Justin Emrich, Ohio
2016 Ohio History Teacher of the Year

Matt Gresick, Maryland
2020 Maryland History Teacher of the Year

Georgette Hackman, Pennsylvania
2017 Pennsylvania History Teacher of the Year

Mari Harris, Idaho
2017 Idaho History Teacher of the Year

Amy King, North Carolina
2019 North Carolina History Teacher of the Year

Lois MacMillan, Oregon
2006 Oregon History Teacher of the Year

Nathan McAlister, Kansas
2010 National History Teacher of the Year

Erin McCarthy, Wisconsin
2020 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year

E’Bow Morgan, California
Master Teacher Fellow

Ron Nash, New Jersey
Senior Education Fellow

Paul Rykken, Wisconsin
2014 Wisconsin History Teacher of the Year

Harrow Strickland, Alabama
2015 Alabama History Teacher of the Year

Richard Texter, Pennsylvania
Middle School Social Studies Teacher

Kevin Wagner, Pennsylvania
2014 Pennsylvania History Teacher of the Year

Rhonda Watton, Wisconsin
2017 Wisconsin History Teacher of the Year

Karalee Wong Nakatsuka, California
2019 California History Teacher of the Year

Joseph Welch, Pennsylvania
2020–21 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year
2018 National History Teacher of the Year

Christian Wrabley, Pennsylvania
2014 PCSS Teacher of the Year

Sara Ziemnik, Ohio
2017 National History Teacher of the Year

¹https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2020/06/most_educators_think_history_books_adequately_portray_people_of_color.html

²https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_209.10.asp?referer=raceindicators

³https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/highered/racial-diversity/state-racial-diversity-workforce.pdf